Oil burner



Nov. 6, 1945. v J. s. DANIELS 2,388,254

OIL BURNER Filed Oct. 4, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \&

JOHN STANLEY DANIELS INVENTOR BY WL ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 6, 1945 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE OIL BURNER John Stanley Daniels, Rockaway, Oreg.

Application October 4, 1943, Serial No. 504,809

Claims.

My invention relates to oil burners of the type in which a pool of fuel oil is vaporized in a chamber under either a forced or natural draft of air in such manner that the flames from the burning vaporized fuel will be discharged from the mouth of the chamber into the firebox of the stove or furnace.

While various oil burners of this type have been tried out more or less successfully I have found that one general fault with such devices is that they do not make sufficient allowance for differences in grades of fuel oil, thus higher or lower gravity Diesel oils; and, while they may burn some oils very satisfactorily and with a minimum resulting carbon deposit, with other oils the carbon deposit shows appreciable increase thus indicating less perfect combustion. I have discovered, however, that by increasing the amount of air admitted to the combustion chamber in such cases, and in particular, by creating a condition which, for lack of a better term, I describe as a turbulence between the admitted air and the burning vaporized oil, greatly improved results are obtainable.

One of the objects of the present invention is Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the burner proper corresponding to line 2-2 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view of the burner taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional plan view of the burner, corresponding to line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the vaned diffusing plate;

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional elevation of the burner wall corresponding to line 5--6 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 7 is a similar fragmentary sectional elevation of the burner wall showing a slight modification.

The burner compartment or chamber, with which the essential elements of this invention are associated, is located within a housing 2|], preferably shaped substantially as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. A fanchamber 29 is attached to the housing and is provided with suitable air inlets and with a conventional fan driven by an electric motor m for the purpose of supplying air to the interior of the housing 28. The air enters the housing through the port 28 (Fig. 2). A suitable valve 26, controlling the supply of burner fluid or a fuel oil to the burner, is attached to the rear of with the vaporizing oil so that most efficient combustion of the particular grade of oil then being used will be possible.

A further object is to provide a suitable diffuser plate for the bottom of the combustion chamber, said plate having vanes which will not only aid in the vaporizing of the oil but will cause better intermixing of the oil vapors and admitted air and contribute to the desired turbulance of the same while the combustion is taking place.

These and incidental objects I am able to attain by building my oil burner with a combustion chamber of special design having controlla- I ble air inlet ports and by placing therein a diffusing plate provided with upstanding vanes in novel arrangement, and by otherwise constructing my oil burner in the manner hereinafter briefly described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an assembled burner embodying the principles of my invention, showthe housing 20 and enclosed by an outside housing or cover 40. The fuel oil is received through a pipe 25' and is in turn delivered to the burner through the pipe 2'! (Figs. 2 and 3). These associated fan and valve chambers are more or less conventional and neednot be further described.

The housing 20 is formed with a discharge opening or mouth 26 in the front wall, which is preferably rectangular in shape. The burner compartment or chamber connects with this mouth 20' and thus is joined to the front housing wall, but on all other sides is spaced from the housing, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, so that the air passing into the housing through the inlet port 28 may circulate about the burner compartment.

The burner compartment comprises a top plate l6 and a bottom plate l1, joined to the front wallshaped chambers 38 on opposite sides of the burner compartment. The wall ends M are further deformed by a slight twisting so that the top edges 95 are spaced further from the side wall l than the bottom edges.

The bottom plate II is preferably bent upwardly at El (Fig. 2) adjacent the mouth thus making the height of the mouth less than the height of the main portion of the burner compartment, and, due to the curvature of the side wall ID, the mouth is considerably narrower than the maximum width of the burner compartment.

A plurality of rows of air holes or ports 34 are located in the top plate It; near the mouth of the burner (see Figs. 2 and 3), to provide additional air for the flames passing through the mouth, and a row of air holes 35 at each side of the mouth together with row 35 at the top of the mouth and row 37 below the mouth serve a similar purpose and, in addition, aid in directing and concentrating the burning vapors as they pass from the mouth. This arrangement of air ports around the mouth of the burner, however, is believed to be old.

An important feature of my burner is the diffusing plate 2! which is located within the burner compartment, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, and rests on the bottom plate. Preferably this diffusing plate is made in several sections, such as 2 la, 21b, Zlc and lid, shown in Fig. 4, to facilitate the removal of the diffusing plate section by section from the interior of the burner should this become necessary for any reason. A cut-away portion 25 at the rear-of the plate adjacent the oil inlet 24 provides a reservoir or pool of oil for vaporization and combustion. The diffusing plate 2! carries a series of upstanding, symmetrically arranged, preferably curved, vanes 23 the purpose of which is hereinafter explained.

Ports 3| (see Fig. 3), located in the top plate l6, connect with the U-shaped chambers 38. These ports are'controlled by dampers 32 which in turn are manually controlled by means of rods 33 which extend through the rear wall of the housing enabling either port to be opened or closed as desired. Air which passes through these ports into the U-shaped chambers 38 will be directed around the top of the inside of the curved side wall l0 due to the deformation of the ends l of the wall Ill previously described. If the two ports 3| were kept open, and if no opposing air currents or vanes were interposed, the currents of air from these two U-shaped chambers 38 would tend to pass around the inside of the wall Ill near the top of the burner compartment until they came together at the rear of the burner compartment. However, in order to produce the desired turbulence, previously referred to, within the burner compartment, I introduce opposing air currents in addition to providing the intercepting vanes 23. The opposing air currents are obtained from a series of ports 30 placed in the wall ID. These ports are preferably located slightly above the tops of the vanes 23, (the vanes extending upwardly for approximately one half of the height of the interior of the burner compartment), and the ports 30 are so arranged as to cause the air passing through them to be directed obliquely downwardly and forwardly so as to strike the rear surfaces of the vanes and to be divided thereby. (These ports are also shown in Fig. 6.) Preferably the vanes 23 are curved so'that the air currents will strike concave surfaces. The opposite surfaces of the vanes will also intercept portions of the air currents discharged from t e U-shaped chambers 38. The vanes are spaced a slight distance from the curved wall III as shown. Due to the arrangement of the vanes 23 and to the currents of air entering from the ports 30 a turbulence of air currents and burning gases is set up in the burner compartment to which the currents from the U-shaped chambers 38 contribute considerably. These various air currents and the resulting turbulence are indicated to some extent by the arrows in Fig, 4. I have found that such turbulence contributes greatly to produce more perfect combustion of the oil vapors within the burner compartment. As a result, carbon deposits within the burner and smoke from the flames discharging from the burner mouth can be reduced to a minimum and practically entirely eliminated.

The diffusing plate 21 and the vanes 23 should be made of metal having good heat conducting properties, such, for example, as bronze, and the hot vanes and bottom plate aid in the vaporizing of the oil or fuel. The air entering the burner compartment, particularly that which enters the U-shaped chambers 38 offers the further advantage of being preheated to considerable extent. Thus a large portion of such air will first pass over the top surface of the top plate It of the burner compartment within the housing. Thence this air is directed rearwardly more or less in contact with the top of the wall I0 and the lower surface of the top plate It until intercepted by the heated vanes 23 or by the opposing air currents which have also become heated. Were all the air for the combustion compartment to be delivered into the compartment from the rear, for example, which occurs in some burners, the air mixing with the combustible vapors would be much cooled and its efiiciency lower.

For best results the supply of air to the burner compartment must be regulated to suit the quality of the oil or fuel being consumed. As is well known, some fuel oils need a greater supply of air than others for most efficient combustion. The mixing of an insufiicient quantity of air with the burning vapors will result in carbon deposits and smoke and loss of maximum heat. On the other hand the introduction of too much air into the burner compartment might generate too hot a flame within the compartment and injure the burner.

The dampers 32 provide a simple and satisfactory means for controlling the supply of air to the burner compartment. Under some conditions both of these dampers may be kept entirely closed and sufiicient air for proper combustion will enter through the ports 30, the air currents through these ports, by striking the vanes 23, setting up also a sufficient turbulence. Ordinarily, however, it will be desirable to have the dampers 32 at least partly open. It is also possible and practical with my burner to have one of the dampers 32 entirely open and the other entirely closed. In such case the flames will have a tendency to be directed towards the side at which the closed damper is located. This provides a simple means accordingly of directing the flames from the burner towards one side or the other of the stove or furnace, which sometimes is desired.

with the ports 30 previously described. The downward direction of the air entering through ports 30' is given by a deflector 39 spaced from the wall H) and extending downwardly from the top plate l6 below the level of the ports 30. This deflector may comprise a single shield or baffle extending around the inside of the burner compartment or .a series of deflectors or bailles may be arranged, one located over each port 30'.

Although I have indicated a motor-driven fan and fan chamber in Fig. 1 .as the means for supplying air to the housing and burner compartment it Would be possible, particularly in installations where there is a strong chimney draught for the stove or furnace, to dispense entirely with the fan and merely permit the air to be drawn into the housing and into the burner compartment by the natural or induced draught; or the fan might be used only in starting the burner and turned off as soon as the hot air currents create sufficient draught to cause the proper amount of air to be drawn into the burner compartment for proper combustion. Many minor modifications could be made in the construction of my burner, in the shape and arrangement of the diffusing vanes, etc., within the scope of my invention. In large burners it might be advisable to increase the number of ports 30 or 38' in the wall it] or provide a double row of such ports. It is not my intention to limit my invention otherwise than as set forth in the claims.

I claim:

1. An oil burner of the character described, comprising a housing provided Withan air inlet opening, a burner compartment within said housing, said burner compartment having a bottom plate and a top plate and a curved side wall extending about said compartment joining said bottom and said top plates, a discharge mouth for said burner compartment at the front end of said burner compartment, said housing having a front wall and said front Wall provided with an opening, said mouth connected with said opening, a diffusing plate in the bottom of sa1d compartment, said plate having a plurality of upstanding symmetrically arranged Vanes, said curved side wall provided with a plurality of air inlet ports so located and arranged as to direct currents of air against said vanes, a pair of air chambers in said compartment respectively ad- ,jacent the sides of said mouth, each of said chambers having an air outlet, said outlets arranged to direct the air from said chambers rearwardly along the inside of the side wall of said burner compartment, whereby the rearwardly directed currents of air from said chambers will strike against said vanes and the dispersed currents of air from said inlet ports, controllable means for admitting air into each of said chambers separately, and means for admitting liquid fuel into the rear of said burner compartment, said inlet ports, air chambers and vanes adapted to cause a turbulence of fuel vapors and admitted air to be set up within said compartment.

2. The combination described in claim 1 with the bottom of said compartment bent upwardly near said mouth thereby reducing the height of said mouth, the height of said vanes being less than the height of said mouth, and said diffusing plate being divided into sections to permit insertion and removal of the diffusing plate through the mouth.

3. In an oil burner, a burner compartment, said burner compartment having a bottom and a top and a side wall extending about said compartment joining said bottom and said top, a discharge mouth at the front end of said burner compartment, a diffusing plate at the bottom of said compartment, said plate having a plurality of upstanding symmetrically arranged vanes, said side wall provided with a plurality of air inlet ports, an air chamber adjacent one side of said mouth, said chamber having an air outlet, said outlet arranged to direct the air from said chamber along the inside of the side wall of said burner compartment, whereby the current of air from said chamber will strike against said vanes and the currents of air from said inlet ports, means for admitting air into said chamber. and means for admitting liquid fuel into said burner compartment at the rear end thereof.

4. In an oil burner of the character described, a burner compartment, said burner compartment having a bottom and a top and a curved side wall extending about said compartment and joining said bottom and said top, a discharge mouth for said burner compartment at the front end thereof, a difiusing plate in the bottom of said compartment, said plate having a plurality of upstanding vanes, the height of said vanes being less than the height of said compartment, said curved side wall provided with a plurality of air inlet portslocated to direct air jets from said ports against said vanes, a pair of air chambers in said compartment respectively adjacent the sides of said mouth, each of said chambers having an air outlet, said outlets arranged to direct the air from said chambers rearwardly along the inside of the side wall of said burner compartment, whereby the rearwardly directed currents of air from said chambers will strike against said vanes and the currents of air from said inlet ports, manually controllable means for admitting air into each of said chambers separately, the bottom of said compartment provided with an oil receiving depression, and means for supplying fuel oil to said depression.

7 5. In an oil burner, a housing provided with an air inlet opening, a burner compartment within said housing, said burner compartment having a bottom plate and a top plate and a curved side wall extending about said compartment and joining said bottom and said top plates, a discharge mouth for said burner compartment at the front end of said burner compartment, said housing having a front wall provided with an opening, said mouth connected with said opening, a diffusing plate in the bottom of said compartment, said plate having a plurality of upstanding vanes, said vanes spaced from said side wall of said compartment, said curved side wall provided with a plurality of air inlet ports so located and arranged as to direct currents of air against said vanes, a pair of air chambers in said compartment respectively adjacent the sides of said mouth, each of said chambers having an air outlet, said outlets arranged to direct the air from said chambers rearwardly along the inside of the side wall of said burner compartment, whereby the rearwardly directed currents of air from said chambers will strike against said vanes and the dispersed currents of air from said inlet ports,

manually controllable means for admitting air liquid fuel into the rear of said burner compartment.

JOHN STANLEY DANIELS. 

